Cable making machines



June 18, 1963 E. J. WILLIAMS ETAL 3,093,956

CABLE MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 20, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 1 BMW June 18,1963 E. .1. WILLIAMS ET AL 3,

CABLE MAKING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed NOV. 20, 1961 June 18, 1963E. J. WILLIAMS ETAL 3,093,956

CABLE MAKING MACHINES 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed NOV. 20, 1961 I nve {065-Vi B A ltorney;

CABLE MAKING MACHINES Filed NOV. 20, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 4 w M L T- I 1l IHT Atlornqs June 18, 1963 E. J. WILLIAMS ETAL 3,093,956

CABLE MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 20, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 a; 31; NM

June 18, 1963 E. J. WILLIAMS ETAL 3,093,956

CABLE MAKING MACHINES Filed Nov. 20, 1961 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 W MW AHornefi United States Patent Ofi 3,093,956 Patented June 18, 19633,093,956 CABLE MAKING MACHINES Ernest Joseph Williams, London, andGeorge Henry Anthony, Welling, Kent, England, assignors to TrafalgarEngineering Company Limited, London, England ljiled Nov. 20, 1961, Ser.No. 153,583 Claims priority, application Great Britain Nov. 22, 1960 9Claims. (Cl. 57-58.65)

The invention relates to a cable making machine of the type in which anumber of strands are twisted together to form a cable.

Such machines normally include a cage having a number of hollow-spiderarms which are arranged to be rotated about a central cradle carrying abobbin onto which the cable is wound. The strands are led through onehollow arm of the cage and, when the cage is rotating, are g1ven onetwist at their point of entry into the spider arm and another at theirpoint of exit. The twisted strands or cable then passes over a haul-of1'pulley through a traversing device mounted on the cradle to the bobbinon which it is wound. The traversing device ensures that the cable islaid on the bobbin in a uniform fashion along the whole length of thebobbin drum.

In machines used at present the traversing device cornprises twoupstanding rollers positioned close to each other between the haul-oilpulley and the bobbin. The rollers are reciprocated together parallel tothe axis of the [bobbin so that the cable which is led between therollers is laid along the whole length of the bobbin. As the traversingrollers are reciprocated the cable is flexed both at its point ofleaving the haul-off pulley and its point of entry between the rollersof the traversing device. This bending or flexing of the cable tends todamage the cover or insulation of the strands and it may cause workhardening of the wires with a consequent increase in their resistance tothe passage of electric current. The degree of bending can be lessenedby increasing the distance between the haul-off pulley and the traverserbut the increase necessary to reduce the flexing of the cable to such adegree that it would not be damaged would lead to machines of uneconomiclength and the speed of rotation of the cage, which would also beincreased in length, would necessarily be lowered. In practice machineshave to be designed to compromise between the degree of bending of thecable and an economic length of the machine.

In a cable making machine of the type described, in accordance with theinvention the cable is traversed along the bobbin drum by a relativerocking movement between a pulley incorporated in a traversing device orin a capstan unit and the bobbin, the movement being such that the cableis led straight off the pulley groove and onto the bobbin drum withoutflexing throughout the whole traverse of the drum.

Preferably the pulley forms part of the traversing device and is rockedin a plane substantially parallel to the bobbin drum, while the bobbinis not rocked. The rocking movement of the pulley is normally in an arecentered on a point which lies on the line connecting the point at whichthe cable enters the traversing device and the centre of the bobbin sothat the cable is led directly onto the pulley groove without bendingthroughout the traversing movement.

Alternatively the bobbin can be rocked about a central axisperpendicular to the drum face while the pulley remains stationary orboth the bobbin and the pulley may be rocked so that at any moment oneis moving in an opposite direction relatively to the other so that thecable is traversed along the drum.

Y The pulley on the traversing device can be located very near to thebobbin in fact as near as desired provided that no fouling occurs duringthe rocking movement. The

machine can therefore be shortened considerably as compared with normalmachines and will occupy less floor space in a factory. The shorteningof the machine results in a shortening of the length of the rotatingcage so that a higher speed of the rotation of this cage becomespracticable with a consequent increase in the output of the machine.Indeed the cage may be rotated at speeds in excess of 1500 r.p.m., ascompared with only about 1000 rpm. in a conventional machine.

The pulley forming part of the traversing device is preferably the'haul-oflt pulley which draws the cable through the machine but it maybe a guide pulley. The pulley is conveniently rotatably mounted on arocker plate together with a measuring pulley also mounted on the plateand around which the cable passes so that the length of cable passingthrough the machine can be recorded. When two pulleys are mounted on thetraversing device they will preferably be located, one above, and onebelow the point about which the device is rocked with theircircumferencesvery close to this point.

An embodiment of the invention will now be described, by way of example,with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIGURE, 1 is a diagram illustrating the principles of the invention,

FIGURE 2 is an elevation of one embodiment of a 7 machine in accordancewith the invention,

' FIGURE 3 is a plan view of the machine shown in FIGURE 2,

FIGURE 4 is a section on the line IVIV of FIG- URE 3,

FIGURE 5 is a sectional plan view of the cradle of the machine to alarger scale,

FIGURE 6 is a part sectional view on the line VIVI of FIGURE 3, and

FIGURE 7 is a detailed view of the traversing screw and block.

The traversing device illustrated in its essentials in FIGURE 1,comprises a rocker plate 2, which is mounted on a cradle (not shown inFIGURE 1), for rocking movement on an are centered on a line XX whichconnects the centre of a hole 4 in the plate 2 through which the twistedstrands (or cable) pass to the traversing device, and the central pointof a bobbin generally indicated at 6, onto which the twisted strands areto be wound. The rocking movement takes place in a plane parallel to thebobbin axis Y--Y.

A haul-oil pulley- 8 and a measuring pulley 10 are mounted for rotationabout axes perpendicular to the line XX. The cable passes around thepulley 8 and around the measuring pulley 10 onto the drum of the bobbin6, the pulleys 8 and 10 being in line one on each side of the line X X.The circumference of both the pulleys 8 and 10 lies very close to theline X--X so that the cable can be laid directly into the grooves of thepulley.

The rocking plate 2 has a tongue 11 having a slot 12, in which a roller14 is mounted. The roller 14 is carried by a traversing block (not shownin FIGURE 1) which engages in the thread of a traverse screw 16. As thescrew 16 is rotated the block reciprocates from one end of the screw tothe other, the plate 2 being caused to rock or oscillate about the lineXX to lay the cable smoothly over the whole length of the drum of thebobbin 6,

Throughout the whole of the traversing movement the cable passesdirectly into thepulleys 8 and I0, and directly out from them :onto thebobbin drum without flexure.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 and 3, the machine comprises a base framegenerally indicated at 20 onto which a motor 22 is fastened. The motorshaft 24 passes through a fluid-coupling device 26 to drive a pulley 28(see FIG- URE 4). The pulley 28 is connected to an upper pulley 30 by abelt 32, the upper pulley 30 being fastened to an upper lay shaft 34,extending along the length of the machine and mounted in bearing 36. Thelay shaft 34 carries drive pulleys 38 at each end from which a drive istransmitted by belts 40 to driven pulleys 42 at each end of the machine,the belts, which are not shown in FIG- URE 2 for the sake of clarity,are toothed, giving a power grip s'o that no slipping can occur.

. Each of the pulleys 42 are connected to a short drive shaft for therotating cage 43 of the machine, the drive shaft being carried inbearings 44. An electro-magnetic brake generally indicated at 46 isprovided for each of the drive shafts between the bearings 44 at eachend. Each drive shaft is connected to one of the discs 48 of the cagethrough connecting struts 50, the .two .discs being connected togethernear their periphery by three spider tubes 51 (only one of which isshown in FIGURE 2).

An approximately Uashaped cradle generally indicated at 52 is freelymounted between the cage discs within the tubes 51, independently of thecage so that when the cage is rotating at high speed the cradle remainsrelatively stationary, but is free to rock slightly if necessary. Abobbin 54 onto which the cable'is to be wound extends across the arms ofthe cradle and is carried by them.

Strands of the cable are fed into the machine through a lay plate 56 atone end of the machine, under a lower guide pulley 58 carried by one ofthe cage discs 48 and over a corresponding guidepulley 60, the strandsof cable being shown at 62 in FIGURE 2. The strands pass through a tube64 indicated by .dash lines in FIGURE 2 and mounted within one of thetubes 51 connecting the two discs. After emerging from the other end oftube 64 the strands pass over guide pulleys 66, 68 carried by the otherdisc 48 and through a central hole in the disc 48 along the axis of thecage through a corresponding hole 70 in the base of the U-shaped cradlethrough a traversing device comprising a rocker plate 72 mounted on thecradle, a driven haul-ofi pulley 74 and a measuring pulley 7 6, bothpulleys being carried by the plate 72. I When the machine is running,the cage is rotated at high speed and the strands of the cable are givenone twist at their point of entry to the cage and another on leaving thecage, the length of the strands passing through the tube 64 beingrotated about the bobbin 54. The twisted strands or cable is then fedonto the bobbin drum by the traversing device.

The cradle generally indicated :at 2 is carried at its base by a member80 providing the inlet hole 70, and secured to the cage of the machine,through bearings 82. Thus the cradle can remain stationary despite therotation of the member 80. a

The drive for the take-up bobbin 54 is taken from the cage 43 and thegear train and is illustrated in FIGURE 5. A gear 84 formed on a member86 secured to the member 80 and rotated therewith, drives a driven gearwheel 88 through an idler gear 90. The driven gear 88 drives shaft 92through an electro-magnetic slipping clutch 91 which in turn drives oneof two meshing bevel gears 94, the driven one of which is connected to achain sprocket 96 driving a'corresponding sprocket 98 mounted on a shaft100. The other end of the shaft has a drive gear 102 mounted on it whichdrives a corresponding gear 104 on the bobbin shaft 106.

Each end of the bobbin shaft is mounted in bearings provided by twofreely rotatable rollers 108 for quick removal.

screw thread is engaged by a tongue 124 of the traverse lock 126 (seeFIGURE 7). The block has a shaft 128 projecting from one side to carry aroller 130 which engages in a slot 132 in the tail portion 134 of therocker plate (see FIGURE 4). The block is free to slide along a slide135 on the cradle as it is moved along the screw thread by theinter-engagement of its tongue 124 in the thread as the screw isrotated, the thread being doubled so that the block is reciprocated fromend to end.

Thus, as the traverse screw is rotated and the traverse block 126reciprocated along the screw, the plate 76 is oscillated or rocked in anarc about its axis which coincides with the hole in the member 80. Asthe rocker plate carries the pulleys 72, 74' these also are rocked so asto traverse the cable fed from the pulley 74 along the length of thedrum of the bobbin 54 and lay the cable correctly onto that drum.

The thread cut into the traverse screw is such that its pitch varies soas to cause a faster movement of the block 126 at each end of the screwthread than at the centre point. This ensures that the cable is laidonto the bobbin evenly. Alternatively, the pitch of the screw could bemaintained constant, but its speed of rotation varied. The screw threadis also arranged to have a slight dwell at each end so that the cable islaid correctly against the flanges of the bobbin. The variation of thescrew thread depends on the size of the bobbin. For example with atake-up bobbin having 16 diameter x 9%" traverse, the pitch of thetraverse screw will vary (from A" at one end to Vs at the centre, to0.9" at the other end. The pitch is not equal at the ends because partof the take-0E from the pulley 76 is off centre.

The drive for the traverse screw is directly connected to the drive forthe bobbin so that the rotation of the bobbin and the oscillation of thepulleys of the traversing device are always maintainedin correct timewith each other.

As can be seen in FIGURE 5, the driven bevel gear 94 drives in additionto the chain sprocket 96, a change gear wheel 136 meshing with a secondchange gear wheel 138 mounted on a shaft carrying a chain sprocket 140.The sprocket 140 is connected by a chain 142 to a corresponding sprocket144 on one end of the traverse screw 121. The speed of rotation of thescrew can be varied by changing the size of the change wheels 136, 138which are covered by a removable cover 139.

As can be seen in FIGURE 2, the twisted strands or cable are laiddirectly into one of the grooves in the circumference of the pulley 74from the hole in the member 80, without flexure whatever the angularposition of the pulley 74 may be. This is because the pulleys are rockedabout an are centered on the axis of the hole 7 over the second groovein the measuring pulley to the The traversing device rocker plate 76 ismounted, inv bobbin drum.

' The haul-01f pulley is driven and acts to drag the cable through thelay plate 56 and the cage.

The drive to the haul-off pulley is as follows. The member 86 which isrotating with the cage carries a second drive gear 146 around itscircumference (see FIGURE 5). This gear drives a driven gear 148 (seeFIGURE 6) fixed to a shaft 150 carrying a worm 152 which drives a wormwheel 154. The worm wheel is mounted for rotation in the gearbox 120 andcarries a driven change wheel 156 meshing with a second change wheel 158keyed on the shaft of the haul-01f pulley 74. The size of the gears 156,158 can be varied to vary the speed of rotation of the haul-off pulley.

The measuring pulley 76 has a shaft 160 which is mounted freely inbearings 162 in the gearbox so that the pulley is rotated as the cablepasses over it. This measuring pulley is connected up to a countingdevice (not shown) so that the length of cable passing through themachine can be recorded.

The pulleys '74, 76 will be seen to be as close to the flange of thetake-up bobbin as is possible without fouling so that the machine has asshort a length as possible. This enables the rotating cage, also to haveas short a length as possible so that its speed of rotation and hencethe output of the machine is high.

In order to adjust the length of traverse for diiferent Widths ofbobbins provision may be made to adjust the height of the traverse screwand hence the position of the roller 130 in the slot 132. Alternativelythe length of traverse may be varied by providing haul-off pulleyshaving different diameters. It will be appreciated that in the lattercase and if the diameter is reduced, the circumference of the groove maynot be on the centre line of the cradle and a guide wheel has to beprovided to ensure that the cable does not rub on the edge of the hole70-.

It will be appreciated that the desired rocking movement of the rockerplate can be achieved by any other suitable device, such as aheart-shaped cam.

In an alternative arrangement the bobbin may be rocked, the lead-offpulley either remaining stationary, in which case it no longer formspart of a traversing device but is incorporated rather in a stationarycapstan unit, or alternatively both the pulley and the bobbin are rockedin opposite directions to achieve a relative rocking movement totraverse the cable.

'In all traversing positions the cable is led directly from thetraversing device perpendicularly onto the bobbin drum without flexure.

The machine described with reference to the drawings is very suitablefor the twinning of plastic covered wire.

We claim:

1. A cable making machine comprising a bobbin cradle, a cage arranged tobe rotated and to carry the strands of the cable 'around the bobbincradle, a travers ing device for laying cable onto the drum of a bobbin"mounted in the bobbin cradle after the cable has passed through thesaid cage, a pulley forming part of the said traversing device, drivemeans to rock said pulley in a plane substantially parallel to thebobbin drum, and second drive means linked to the pulley drive, saidsecond drive means being arranged to drive the bobbin to take up cableas the said pulley is being rocked to traverse cable across the drum ofthe bobbin.

2. A cable making machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the pulley isrocked along an arc centred on a point which lies on a line connectingthe point at which the cable enters the traversing device to the centreof the bobbin.

3. A cable making machine as claimed in claim 1 in which the pulleyforming part of the traversing device is driven to pull the cablethrough the cage from a supply bobbin.

4. A cable making machine comprising a bobbin cradle, a cage arranged tobe rotated and to carry the strands of the cable around the bobbincradle, a traversing device for laying cable onto the drum of a bobbinmounted in the bobbin cradle after the cable has passed through the saidcage, a pulley forming part of the said traversing device, drive meansto rock said pulley in a plane substantially parallel to the bobbindrum, second drive means linked to the pulley drive, said second drivemeans being arranged to drive the bobbin to take up cable as the saidpulley is being rocked to traverse cable across the drum of the bobbin,and said pulley having its circumference arranged substantiallytangential to a line connecting the centre of the bobbin drum to thepoint on which the cable enters the traversing device.

5. A cable making machine as claimed in claim 4 in which the pulley isan idler pulley arranged to measure the length of cable passing throughthe machine.

6. A cable making machine comprising a bobbin cradle, a cage arranged tobe rotated and to carry the strands of the cable around the bobbincradle, a traversing device for laying cable onto the drum of a bobbinmounted in the bobbin cradle after the cable has passed through the saidcage, a pulley forming part of the said traversing device, drive meansto rock said pulley in a plane substantially parallel to the bobbindrum, second drive means linked to the pulley drive, said second drivemeans being arranged to drive the bobbin to take up cable as the saidpulley is being rocked to traverse cable across the drum of the bobbin,said traversing device including a rocker plate on which the said pulleyis mounted, and a traverse screw adapted to rock the rocker plate, saidtnaverse screw having a thread which is engaged by a traverse blockconnected to the rocker plate.

7. A cable making machine according to claim 6 in which the thread ofthe traverse screw is such that its pitch varies along its length insuch a way that the rocker plate is moved faster at each end of thescrew than at the centre of the screw.

8. A cable making machine comprising a bobbin cradle, a cage arranged tobe rotated and to carry the strands of the cable around the bobbincradle, a traversing device for laying cable onto the drum of a bobbinmounted in the bobbin cradle after the cable has passed through the saidcage, a pulley forming part of the said traversing device, drive meansto rock said pulley in a plane substantially parallel to the bobbindrum, second drive means linked to the pulley drive, said second drivemeans being arranged to drive the bobbin to take up cable as the saidpulley is being rocked to traverse cable across the drum of the bobbin,said pulley being carried by a rocker plate having an aperture throughwhich the cable passes to the pulley after leaving the said cage, andthe circumference of the said pulley lying substantially tangential tothe line connecting said aperture with the centre of the bobbin drum.

9. A cable making machine as claimed in claim 8 in which the rockerplate is driven by a traverse screw, the drive means for the screw beinglinked with the drive means for the bobbin.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,380,801 Stover July 31, 1945 2,773,344 Van Hook Dec. 11, 19562,855,163 Powers Oct. 7, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,016,031 France Aug. 13,1952

1. A CABLE MAKING MACHINE COMPRISING A BOBBIN CRADLE, A CAGE ARRANGED TOBE ROTATED AND TO CARRY THE STRANDS OF THE CABLE AROUND THE BOBBINCRADLE, A TRAVERSING DEVICE FOR LAYING CABLE ONTO THE DRUM OF A BOBBINMOUNTED IN THE BOBBIN CRADLE AFTER THE CABLE HAS PASSED THROUGH THE SAIDCAGE, A PULLEY FORMING PART OF THE SAID TRAVERSING DEVICE, DRIVE MEANSTO ROCK SAID PULLEY IN A PLANE SUBSTANTIALLY PARALLEL TO THE BOBBINDRUM, AND SECOND DRIVE MEANS LINKED TO THE PULLEY DRIVE, SAID SECOND